Coach Adam Fisher’s anger was palpable when he stormed into the Al Shrier Media Room on Sunday afternoon. The reason was simple: Temple had blown a 12-point lead, resulting in a 65-62 loss to North Texas at the Liacouras Center.
The Owls (15-10, 7-5 American) had just come off a loss to Tulane on Wednesday, prompting Fisher and the team to go back to the drawing board. They prepped for a Mean Green (15-11, 6-7) defense that allowed a conference-best 66.3 points per game.
Instead, Temple played into its opponent’s strengths. It turned the ball over a season-high 16 times and missed eight free throws.
“Not the response we wanted,” Fisher said. “I thought, last game on the road, we had a heart-to-heart. Long couple practices. We didn’t play Temple basketball at Tulane the right way, and we got back to some basics. Our mental approach wasn’t there for whatever reason at Tulane.
“Today I thought we responded by playing hard, but we had a few lapses in the second half … We’ve got to be better at home. I appreciate the crowd coming out. I’m [ticked] that we have this many people and we play like this.”
Temple opened up the game slowly, before its offense eventually got going against a pesky Mean Green defense. North Texas forced two early turnovers but guard Derrian Ford, who finished with 20 points, drilled a three-pointer.
The Owls used ball movement to get the best of the visitors zone defense and got open looks. It took awhile to find a rhythm but eventually guard Masiah Gilyard hit back-to-back threes, which ended a near eight-minute drought without a triple.
That effort became all for naught, as the Owls’ 40-28 lead six minutes into the second half eventually evaporated.
“It’s what we expected. It’s what we spent time on pulleys versus their pressure,” Fisher said. “They’ve heard that since the second we got off the plane at Tulane.”
With six games left in the season before the American Conference tournament, the past week looks like a missed opportunity to gain traction in terms of seeding. The Owls entered the matchup tied with Charlotte for second place in the American.
The 49ers dropped their game against Texas-San Antonio on Sunday, paving a way for Temple to get sole possession of the second seed of the conference tournament. South Florida, which leads the American, nearly lost its game against Florida Atlantic, which could have put the Owls within striking distance of the top spot.
Now, the Owls are in a fight with Charlotte and Memphis in a tie for fourth place. Tiebreakers have Temple in the fourth spot, which gives it a bye to the quarterfinals, but two wins this week thrust it to a tie with USF and they wouldn’t play until the semifinals under the new format.
But Fisher and the rest of the Owls aren’t worried about those results, opting to keep their focus inward.
“We focus on us,” Fisher said. “I think when you start watching standings, look, we want to play meaningful games in February and into March. And right now we are and that’s got to be our focus.”
“We’ve got to learn and keep getting better,” Fisher later said. “Got another great opportunity at home against a really good team and we got to make sure we bring the same fight, but do it for 40 minutes.”
Up next
Temple will host Alabama-Birmingham (16-10, 7-6) on Wednesday (ESPNU, 7 p.m.)
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